Elizabeth Debicki just won Best Actress at The Emmys. Here's why she won't come back to Australia.

Season five of The Crown returned this year and, as is tradition with the Netflix blockbuster, the cast rotated once again.

Following the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II, the show has regularly updated its core cast to reflect the passage of time. We've seen young Elizabeth, played by Claire Foy, become Olivia Colman, who played her Majesty throughout mid-life. Now, Imelda Staunton is set to take the reins in the lead role.

While we were only introduced to Princess Diana in season four — portrayed by Emma Corrin — we then saw someone else assume the role to represent Diana in the later stages of her life. This time, Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki took on a portrayal of the widely beloved princess, who died in 1997, aged just 36.

Many actresses have played Diana on screen over the last few decades, including Naomi Watts and Kristen Stewart, but Debicki was just as incredible as them all in her role in The Crown. So much so, she's just been awarded Best Supporting Actress in a Drama at the 2024 Emmys.

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What else has Elizabeth Debicki starred in?

If you haven't seen The Crown, you'll likely recognise Debicki from the acclaimed British TV show The Night Manager, which also starred Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, and Olivia Colman.

On the big screen, she's starred in Everest opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, The Cloverfield Paradox, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where she starred as Ayesha.

Debicki got her first major role in 2013, when she starred as Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby.

Where is she from?

Debicki's father is Polish, and her mother is of Irish heritage, but they were both ballet dancers who toured internationally.

While Debicki was born in Paris, when she was five years old, her family re-located to Melbourne. There she was raised, and eventually graduated with a degree in drama from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2010.

Since then, her work has taken her around the world. While she is based in Los Angeles, she admitted in 2015 that she was travelling a lot for work.

"It's crazy," she told The Guardian.

"Sometimes I have a nervous breakdown over my suitcase - over socks - because your brain just goes: 'I just can't pack again, I can't.' You're looking at your suitcase going: 'I'm in five countries in two weeks and it's four different seasons.' That's when my brain melts."

However, it seems unlikely she'll set down roots in Australia again.

Elizabeth Debicki. Image: Getty.

What does she think of Australia?

Debicki got her start locally, when she had a small role in the British/Australian comedy A Few Best Men. She caught the eye of one Baz Luhrmann, who cast her in his adaptation of The Great Gatsby, starring as golfer Jordan Baker.

The role catapulted her into a high-profile acting career. She left Australia to film a number of different roles, and by 2020, she shared she was unlikely to come back.

"If you're an actor, you mustn't get any ideas about your craft. In Australia, you're barely allowed to say this is a job," Debicki told The Guardian in 2020.

"You're supposed to be like, I don't know, sometimes I just do this thing, the camera rolls, then like, I go home! You can't own any of it, they'll just knock you down. I think a lot of it is about making people comfortable, with no one being too ambitious, not too provocative or transgressive," she continued.

"I understand that makes for a pleasant drink at the pub, but I'm not really interested in being too comfortable."

What has she said about playing Diana?

We got a first-look photo of Debicki in her role as Diana about a year ago, but the news that she'd be taking over the role was announced back in 2020.

"It's a dream role," she told the Mirror of her Emmy-winning gig.

"She is such a remarkable human being, and she really does still live in the hearts of so many people.

"I'm overwhelmed, I'm terrified and I'm excited. I can't wait to start."

Elizabeth Debicki as Princess Diana. Image: Netflix.

Debicki has delved deeper into what the role means to her, this time speaking to Gotham magazine.

"She's like a symbol - like a magical person," she said of the late-Princess.

"I'm coming to understand more intimately how she existed and still exists very profoundly in collective consciousness. I think it's amazing that from age seven, I would remember somebody who had no actual impact on my life as a child in Australia - and yet I was very aware of her presence in the world," she continued.

"I remember seeing her face on magazines. My mother was very aware of her, as I think a lot of women close to her age were. She really followed her quite intimately because she represented something extremely human and extremely symbolic."

The Crown is streaming on Netflix.

Feature Image: Netflix.

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